Campus Keynote Lectures Ranged from Pulled Oats™ to Donald Trump

24th of October 2016

What do robotics, mental training for athletics and stem cell treatment have to do with each other? During this year’s Campus Seminar experts from various fields held keynote lectures of the preceding topics. Campus helps teachers understand how the world is changing outside of schools. Watch the recorded live stream of Campus Helsinki 2016 here.

The foyer infront of one of Finland’s largest movie theater’s auditorium is bustling with people as 700 teachers were anxiously waiting for this year’s Campus Helsinki event to begin. A study advisor who wants to remain anonymous is filled with excitment: “My expectations for the event are high because I’ve been to the event before. All of last year’s keynote speakers spoke of interesting and topical issues.”

Soft Values and Thoughts to Ponder Upon

SCOOL’s Creative Director Saku Tuominen started his opening speech by giving the teachers a warmly welcomed recommendation: “Today I don’t want you to think about project-based learning or the problems you’re facing with edtech. Today I want you to enjoy, relax and get inspired!”

Petri Rajaniemi, an expert on change, was the first keynote speaker to hit the stage. He made the audience chuckle with his comparisons of sympathy and empathy. He also pointed out differences between the real world and the illusions that advertisements create.

Other speakers that had a decisive say on soft values were Liisa Björklund and Jenni Pääskysaari. Social ethician Liisa Björklund spoke about the harsh reality of the growing numbers of socially excluded young people in our society. Non-fiction writer Jenni Pääskysaari focused on valuing diversity – young people should be encouraged to be themselves because the world tends to usher them in ways that can be very harmful to them.

Melina Niemi, the mental training coach for Finland’s national junior ice hockey team, also emphasized the power of believing in young people. She introduced the stairway to success that she created together with the junior ice hockey players, and with which she helped the team win the World Junior Championship in 2015. “It’s all about finding the right goal for each individual in the team and working as a team to fulfill those goals”, Niemi explained.

"The most important or surprising keynote speech was Petri Rajaniemi’s lecture. I didn’t know he would emphasize soft values that much”, analyzed one teacher education student who then continued: The most important keynote lectures were those of social exclusion (Liisa Björklund) and the importance of valuing diversity (Jenni Pääskysaari). These topics just can’t be accentuated enough.

This Fall’s Most Passionate Topics

Many teachers were eager to hear University of Jyväskylä’s Finnish Institute for Educational Research’s Director Jouni Välijärvi’s speech on PISA. The new results of PISA testing will be published in December. The previous drop in PISA results in 2012 was due to students’ declining interest in reading so teachers are anxiously waiting to see how Finland has succeeded during 2015.

The United States Presidential Election has been on everyone’s lips this fall. Finnish award-winning journalist Saska Saarikoski’s speech gathered a broad intererest: he held his keynote speech on Donald Trump and the future of populism in politics. According to Saarikoski “Trump is an extraordinary presidential candidate due to his background and due to his different kind of conception of truth”.

In Finland one of the hottest topics this year has involved around food and especially around vegetarian and vegan food. The founder of the Finnish innovation Pulled Oats™ Maija Itkonen spoke about the future revolution of vegetarian food. Pulled Oats™ has become one of the best replacements for meat in the market and get this – it’s environmentally more healthy too.

Three teachers were awarded at Campus Awards

On the verge of International Teachers Day, Campus wanted to compliment and award teachers for the important work that they do everyday in their classrooms. This has been a tradition for the past six years that Campus seminars have been organized.

One of this year’s award went to Sari Salo who has gamified all of her classroom practices. The learning outcomes and motivation of Sari’s students have increased due to the new way of teaching and learning in class. Even though the gamifying process has required a lot of work, Salo says the work has definitely paid off after seeing the joy on her students’ faces.

The second Campus Award was awarded to two teachers, Marita Reinikka ja Elina Luoma for their efforts of sharing good practices with each other. Marita Reinikka developed a marathon challenge for her students which Elina Luoma then carried it out successfully with her own students. In the marathon challenge students ran a whole marathon within a month’s time in the schoolyard during recess times. The challenge also encourages students to exercise more during their freetime. Through sharing and collaboration great things can happen in Finnish schools, commented SCOOL’s COO Lasse Leponiemi.

"Campus left a mark"

For some teachers, this was the first time attending Campus Helsinki, and for others it was part of a 6-year tradition. The audience appreciated the wide spectrum of speakers that spoke with expertise from various fields.

“Campus left a mark” as one teacher described the event. The keynote lectures were considered profound and thoughtful which left the audience in awe and awaiting for next year’s Campus Helsinki experience.

Did you know that all of the Campus keynote lectures will be transformed into teaching material that teachers can use with their students? Get acquainted with Introducing How the World is Changing to Teachers project and try out the tasks created out of last year’s speeches today with your class!

Campus
helps teachers understand how the world is changing outside of schools – topics range from climate change to robotics and everything in between.
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Interested? Let us know.
Keni Simola,
Head of partnerships
keni@hundred.org
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